By way of background, widespread installation of fixed-position video cameras in public places and inside of buildings has provided law enforcement and security personnel with valuable sources of information for gathering evidence. However, the information from these fixed-position cameras is limited to the field of view and perspective of the camera. As such, fixed-installation cameras are subject to vandalism. Also, these systems have a limited-term video archival period (typically 3-7 days) and supply only raw video—that is, un-annotated video. Thus, security personnel must manually review hours of video to gather evidence. In addition, the video footage from these cameras is not readily available to personnel at the site at times when the information may be most needed, such as during an initial or follow-up investigation. Repeated visits to the site, and/or repeated efforts to review the video or other physical media stored in vaults or file cabinets, are usually required.
As a result of these deficiencies of such known types of video surveillance systems, in traditional law enforcement practice, early observations by law enforcement personnel are not automatically linked to the investigation, nor are they available to other security personnel in the vicinity or the area of interest. Furthermore, the investigation materials (e.g., security personnel observations, photos, videos, annotations, witness statements, notes of investigative personnel, etc.) are not readily available to other field personnel in the same vicinity, even long after the event has occurred. Because of these limitations, correlations and insights that could prove to be very valuable are never discovered.